Vikings

[dingsdongs]

Hello!

• I would like to ask for feedback on an idea for a new story,
• and i'm very interested in your opinions, if this is something that you would enjoy reading / playing.
• Additionally, my time is limited, and i would be very happy to start a joint effort, if there are other authors interested in this.

When i started watching the TV show "Vikings" in January (so far only the first two seasons), i thought: Hey, that whole setting would also be a cool theme for a story.
I also like the variable and condition system at chyoa, and think it can be used to create a more immersive experience for the reader.

The story and its location should take place and play along the development of the TV show episodes.
My idea for the story is to create a feeling of an play along adventure game, similar to some Telltale Adventures, where you play a character that didn't exist in the TV show.

• That would give the reader the opportunity to meet and interact with the familiar characters of the show, as well as giving the author the possibility to create screenshots from the show and include them as images.
• The intention is, that the player takes part in the adventures and scenes as seen in the TV show, without altering them in a radical way, while still being presented choices to take different actions.

In the time-gap between the episodes and key events seen in the series, there would be room to create unique original content and adventures.

The chyoa story should be structured in "Episodes" as well, which are chronological ordered and should build upon each other, as well as giving the reader the option of choosing the Episode he wants to play (i.e. he already read the first three, and doesn't want to play them again)

Of course there should also be erotic / sexual content, and considering that the show doesn't hold back with sex and nudity, i can see many well suited characters, who could be used for interaction. (http://vikings.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Female_Characters)

I have already taken the time to create some teasers, and started to create a variable system to describe my ideas.
However, i don't have any actual content beyond that yet, only a very vague road-map:

My idea for the first episode would be:
-The player character becoming a man by swearing fealty to Earl Haraldson and receiving his arm ring.
-Possible exploration of the village of Kattegat and meeting many of the TV shows characters for the first time.
- Hearing rumors of Ragnar's plan to sail west.
- Possible interaction with Siggy, who doesn't receive much attention from her husband, and might be open to some action on the side.
- The episode would finish with the player going off on his first raid to the east.

The second episode then could be the raid to the east.
- It could include some sailing, some talk among warriors of norse legends and the faith.
- The raiding itself, featuring various combat scenes and checks.
- The spoils of war (women?).
- And would finish with coming back to Katthegat to spent the winter.

The third episode could be a prelude to the first raid west.

etc.

Health
* % starts at 100
* If player is wounded or sick, his health should drop.
* If it drops too much at once, he should become unconscious.
* If it drops to zero, he should be dead.

Fame
* % starts at 0
* For successful raids, combat or other recognizable deeds, the Fame should rise
* This should rise only slowly, so that the variable can be uses throught the story.

Faith 50
* % starts at 50
* if the player performs actions in accordance with his chosen faith, this value should rise
* if the player disregards the customs of his faith, this value should drop
* if the value is low, the player should be susceptible to christian conversion
* if the player faith is high, this could open up additonal "supernatural" events (i.e: a crow showing the way. A vision. Luck in Combat.)
* if the player faith is high, this could open up additonal dialogue choices

Stats and skills.
* For balancing perposes, i suggest to cap them at a maximum value of 10.
* Stats and skills can be used to alter dialogue and descriptions.
* Stats and skills should be used to enable additional chapter choices.
* Combat skills can be checked in battle scenes and have influence on the outcome. (i.e. shieldwall breaking and taking a wound if Skill: Shield is not high enough)
* All stats and skills should be able to be raised slowly by taking certain actions. (i.e. spending time in the wilderness should increase your hunting skill.

Strength
* How strong and durable the player is. 
* Should also influence the players prowess in combat (Axe, Sword, Shield, Spear 50/50, Bow 50/50)

Wisdom
* How knowledgable a character is. Dialogue driven. But also map reading, orientation, and similiar activities.

Cunning
* Could be used for betrayal choices or for detecting lies / dishonesty.
* Should also influence the players prowess in combat (Dagger, Spear 50/50, Bow 50/50)
* Could enable dirty options / tactics in combat

Skill: Axe
Skill: Sword
Skill: Shield
Skill: Dagger
Skill: Spear
Skill: Bow

* The weapon stats were chosen, because those seem to be the main weapons i saw on the show so far.

Skill: Diplomacy
* Dialogue, persuasion, ability to learn / understand other languages

Skill: Hunting
* Hunting, setting traps, survival in wilderness

Skill: Seafaring
* fishing, sailing, navigating
* could enable option to take responsibility for navigating west

Faith: Thor
Faith: Odin
Faith: Loki
Faith: Christianity

* The three norse gods were chosen to correspond with the three stats: Strength, Wisdom, Cunning.
* Thor as the god of strength and battle
* Odin seems to be very prominent, with images of Crows and the Wanderer.
* Loki as the god of mischief and lies.
* I dont know what to do with christianity yet, and it isn't an option at the beginning. I have the impression that the show often addresses the struggle between the old norse ways and the arrival of christianity as a new faith.

Skill: Kissing 1
Skill: Sex 1

* Skills to measure the characters skill in sexual matters
* These skills should increase with practice and experience.
* Can be used to customize erotic encounters

Greetings and thanks for your feedback,
dingsdongs

 

[merkros]

I've always been a huge fan of historical stories. So while I haven't watched Vikings(yet...it's on my list of Things To Do). I am fully in support of a viking-themed story.

 

[gene.sis]

I have only seen the first episode so far and I'm not sure if I want to read spoilers (because I liked the first episode)

If stats should raise slowly, I would suggest a bigger scale of stats.
If you use 100 as maximum you could grant small gain of stats for small actions.
You could also make it harder to reach the maximum by reducing the gain when reaching high stats. (e.g. 50% gain over 60; 40% over 70; 25% gain over 80; 10% over 90; (5% over 100))

I would hide most skills and only show them if necessary.

as well as giving the reader the option of choosing the Episode he wants to play (i.e. he already read the first three, and doesn't want to play them again)

This sounds like the reader would "loose" his stats when starting at a later episode or starting with another set of custom stats.

 

[dingsdongs]

I'm afraid that spoilers can't be helped ;-(
So you should start to watch the first season quickly ;-)

Regarding losing the stats when moving to the next episode, thats not intendend. Of course you should be able to continue with your current character.
I just want to make the option available to hop right in for whatever reason (Hit reset game by accident. Already played the first few episodes 100 times. etc.).

This could be realized for example by an advanced start option, where you can distribute additional points over what you would have available at the normal start.

The skill scale is obviously open to discussion.

 

[gene.sis]

So you should start to watch the first season quickly ;-)

Not sure, if my wife likes it that much

This could be realized for example by an advanced start option, where you can distribute additional points over what you would have available at the normal start.

Then I would give a little fewer points than a reader would get when he begins from the start. (If a reader begins from the start, he can't specialize the same way a reader could when he starts later.)

 

[Javalar]

Interesting idea.

Also on my list of "haven't watched yet".

But I definitely want more sexual skills. And maybe something like "Dominance" which makes other people fear and respect you (and women submit to you).

 

[dingsdongs]

Well, i personally still think that this could be a very cool idea, but i'll have to get back to it when i have more time.

 

[mindtheMILF]

I have seen every single episode and think there needs to be more sex scenes, but since it is bound to public tv and not PPV or some subscription based it lacks the sex scenes, and I believe this would be awesome. There is a sex god in the show maybe you can play with his character.

 

[dingsdongs]

At the beginning of this week, I thought about finally getting to and to start working on this idea, with the goal to create and release a first episode.
However, i feel like this whole project will be a lot of work, if i pursue it the way i imagine it, and if i want to have meaningful choices. So i would still be very happy to collaborate with other writers on this story! If anyone is interested, please contact me!


To show you what you would get yourself into, i'll share what i have been working on so far:

I have now begun more detailed concept work for the story:

First the "infrastructure setup" at the beginning of the chyoa story, that should allow it to easily expand the scope of the story with additional episodes, or for unrelated additional stories to make use of the character creation feature, so these chapters don't have to be created over and over again.

Spoiler: Concept picture of the reusable beginning

Second, the character creation, that can be accessed for any episode / story, simply by setting the available stat points before hand.

Spoiler: Concept picture character creation

You will see that i have reduced the variety of combat skill from 6 to 3 compared to the original post.,
I thought that it would be too complex to have 6 different weapon skills. Creating the chapter options and choices for combat that spans over several chapters would quickly become a huge chore.

Previous suggestion:
Skill: Axe, Skill: Sword, Skill: Shield, Skill: Dagger, Skill: Spear, Skill: Bow

New setup

• I'd like to keep the 'Shield' separated, as the "Shieldwall" played a big role in several of the combat scenes of the show as far as i can remember.
• I could combine 'Axe' + 'Sword' into a single one handed option.
• Keep the 'Bow' as a ranged options.

• And drop Dagger and Spear entirely.

This would still give the player the option to customize his character, but would reduce the workload severely.
Another option would be to drop the combat skills entirely and just work with the stats. But i think since i'd rather have some customization options, i don't want to do that.

Third, i have created the layout and events of the first episode, "The Thing". Obviously don't read that if you don't want spoilers.

Spoiler: Concept picture Episode 1

The overall idea is to work with known characters from the TV Show, as well as introduce original characters, to give additional story and romance options.

Spoiler: Characters

In Episode 1:
1. This would be Siggy as an option for the player to lose his virginity.
2. Siggy's daughter, Thyri. I can't remember that she had much screen time on the show, and later in the show, she gets betrothed and married off for political and financial reasons. So this would be an option for some kind of secret romance, in fear of discovery by her father, the earl.
3. A young serving maid, an original character. No real concept of this character exists so far. This choice would give the option to describe the difference between the classes (i had the impression, that servants are their own class in the show, had very few rights, etc. compared to free men and women.)

In Episode 2, the preparation for the players first raid, in addition to further pursue the characters from Episode 1, would like to introduce additional original characters as romance options.
1. The blacksmith's daughter. No real concept of this character exists so far.
2. The blacksmith's wife. No real concept of this character exists so far. Perhaps some kind of cougar one time fling.
3. A young woman training to be a shield maiden. I had the idea, that they could develop some kind of rivalry during the training. And that this character could accompany the player on the raid, and be a more difficult romance option, that would span over several episodes, before he can finally get somewhere with her.

In Episode 3, the raid to the east
The option to ravish a foreign woman.

So, any chance that i can spark someones interest? ;-)

 

[dingsdongs]

I believe (hope) that i have finished the first, very much technical part, of creating the character creation process.
As i have already 68 chapters (mostly links with variables) just for that, and for some basic guidelines, i humbly ask if anyone would offer to check it out and click a few times through it, to see if everything makes sense.
Of course i myself clicked through it several times, but you know how it is. As an author you sometimes miss very obvious stuff.

So thanks in advance for anyone who is willing to help